The 1980 film by Martin Scorsese is a movie about a man who "has little sense of himself and his value in the world beyond what he can do with his fists," Kinn and Piazza write. "A man, in short, who is dragged under by his own nature. We cannot dismiss his failings; we ache for him not because he is sympathetic, but because we recognize him in ourselves."
Star Robert De Niro told Scorsese the story of the boxer.
Charles Scorsese, father of the movie's director, appears in the film as Charlie, the cousin of Tommy Como (Nicholas Colasanto).
